Rural places are defined by their connectedness--close-knit, supportive communities that work together to meet the needs of children and families. But geographic isolation is another defining feature of rural places, one that often renders rural families invisible to nonrural Americans. Indeed, national conversations about the COVID-19 pandemic…

In the recent years there has been a ten-fold increase in the incidence of autism in the USA. It is also estimated that approximately 67 million people are affected by autism worldwide. This worldwide epidemic has led to an increased interest in the identification and use of evidence-based interventions for individuals with autism. Interventions…

This paper explores the ways in which young South African school children (aged between seven and eight) in a predominantly white primary school give meanings to HIV/AIDS. Using ethnographic methods and interview data, the analysis of young children's responses shows that their accounts of HIV/AIDS draw from their knowledge of disease more…

Recent research suggests that pollution has a large impact on asthma and other respiratory and cardiovascular conditions. But this relationship and its implications are not well understood. I use changes in location due to military transfers, which occur entirely to satisfy the needs of the army, to identify the causal impact of pollution on…

Access to education is recognized as a basic human right and yet projections based on current trends show that more than 50 countries will not achieve universal primary education by 2015. This briefing paper looks at the role of malnutrition and diseases in the failure of countries to meet EFA targets. It is based on the CREATE Pathways to Access…

The incidence of hearing impairments caused by meningitis (8.7% of which 63% have profound hearing loss) suggests that universal vaccination at age 18 months could prevent at least 115 cases of hearing loss anuually in the United States. Reported prevalence rates were higher for blacks and for males. (Author/DB)

This paper examines young South African school children's understanding of HIV/AIDS. Based on ethnographic work in two schools in Greater Durban, it explores the impact of HIV/AIDS on the ways in which gender and sexuality are articulated against the backdrop of race and class specific contexts. The first part of the paper examines the children's…

Children living with HIV often display delayed motor performance owing to HIV infection of the central nervous system, the effects of opportunistic infections and, indirectly, owing to their social environments. Although these problems have been well documented, the impact of the virus on the development of South African children is less well…

All OECD governments want to give parents more choice in their work and family decisions. This book looks at the different ways in which governments support families. It seeks to provide answers to questions like: Is spending on family benefits going up, and how does it vary by the age of the child? Has the crisis affected public support for…

Summarizes a study to ascertain teacher beliefs about AIDS and to analyze Ohio primary teachers' attitudes about working with HIV/AIDS-infected children. Better inservice is needed to help teachers understand why it is impossible for them to be informed of HIV-infected students in their classrooms and the critical importance of using universal…

Focuses on the immunization status of children aged 19 to 35 months. Recommended immunizations are described and contrasted with the actual status of immunization. In response to unacceptably low levels of immunization among very young children, the government is aiming at 90% immunization by the year 2000. (SLD)

Evaluation of object-naming utterances of articulation-disordered children (ages 3-6) found that subjects with histories of recurrent otitis media during their first 24 months evidenced stridency deletion (in consonant singletons and in consonant clusters) significantly more than did subjects with negative otitis media histories. (Author/DB)

This study tested the hypothesis that early language experience facilitates the development of language-specific perceptual weighting strategies believed to be critical for accessing phonetic structure. In turn, that structure allows for efficient storage and retrieval of words in verbal working memory, which is necessary for sentence…

In this paper, we utilise an approach drawn from the field of epidemiology to explore what is known and unknown about young children with Down syndrome and their families. After describing what we mean by an epidemiological approach, we review basic findings for children with intellectual disabilities, as well as challenges to performing such…

This report presents: (1) a review of the evidence that vaccine cost has prevented children from being immunized on time; (2) an evaluation of the implementation of the Vaccines For Children (VFC) program, including whether this program, as implemented, is likely to meet the needs of the under-immunized children; and (3) some options for improving…